Take yourself back to the 1980s for a vintage New Year’s Eve Party. We’ve got what to wear, entertaining needs, music suggestions and all you need to party like it’s 1983…or 1984…or 1988. How can you pick one year when you have an entire decade of fabulous to choose from.
Clothes you can moonwalk in
Choose New Wave or punk, disco glam or breezy Hammer pants (later in the 80s than 1983 but still worth mentioning). A bold graphic print in colors that would make a parrot jealous is essential.
Original Checker Rags New Wave jacket from VintageOnHollywood, $212. Sequin and paillette dress by Cedars from shoptrashdotnet, $126. St. Michael lightning bolt sweater from VintageFanAttic, $50. Sizzle baggy pants from AwesomeVintageTees, $60. Plastic earrings from DayInDayOutNY, $25. All on Etsy.
Eat, drink and be 80s
Feeling festive with a little 80s Memphis design influence. Strong geometric patterns and snack recipes from the queen of entertaining. Is that a Devo hat or a bowl?
Luminarc France geometric etched tumblers from ObjetsHumains, $40. Shelton Ware faux wood ice bucket from VintageFinds22M, $40. Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres cookbook from EpicureanBookcase, $12. Christopher Stuart Optima Angles pattern dessert plates from VintageBarwareCo, $26. Mann Pewtertone bowl from FelixDavid, $94. All available on Etsy.
Dance Like a Maniac
What would a vintage New Year’s Eve party be without music? The hits of 1983 run the range from disco to pop to New Wave. The year has a few musical singles to apologize for–we still dive for the radio/streaming device when we hear Men Without Hat’s Safety Dance or Michael Sembello’s Maniac. But we remain forever ready to dance to Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Prince’s Little Red Corvette, and the Clash’s Rock the Casbah. And we’ve even made our piece with Adam Ant, who seemed a bit of a manufactured New Wave prototype act at the time but is happily danceworthy now.
Enjoy a browse of the Billboard Top 100 from 1983.
Thriller, Michael Jackson (rare misprint copy) $250 and Combat Rock, The Clash, $40, both from PatchesMusicAnnex. Flashdance motion picture soundtrack cassette tape from OldDogVintageStore, $4.50. She Works Hard for the Money, Donna Summer, $21.95, and Kissing to be Clever, Culture Club, 18.95. both from ThisVinylLife.
However you choose to enter 2023,
with a rousing toast at a soiree or a gentle snore from turning in early,
we at Vintage Unscripted wish you
good health, good cheer and definitely good vintage adventures.
See you in the new year.
